Devices for storing and displaying containers of liquid or solid products, especially household products such as cleaning fluids, bleach and the like are known in the art. The devices typically comprise a base with upwardly extending sidewalls to provide support at opposed sides of the device. There is also provided an insert within the container that is used to provide additional support.
The typical insert is in the shape of the letter "H" and includes panels which extend from opposed sides of the device to thereby form storage compartments for the individual containers. This type of design suffers from two major disadvantages. First, because the panels extend from one side of the device to the other, a portion of the storage area is blocked from view. Therefore, even if a portion of the sides of the device are removed a consumer looking through the exposed portion of the side may see less than all of the containers or may not see any containers even though several containers may still remain within the storage area.
The second disadvantage of the "H" insert is that the containers cannot be easily removed from the side of the device. Instead, the containers must be removed from the top of the device. This reduces access to the containers because the user must be able to get above the device to remove the containers stored therein especially relatively heavy containers such as gallon containers of liquid or solid product. In addition, the removing of the containers by consumer is rendered much more difficult and cumbersome.
As previously indicated, the conventional "H" insert is customarily employed in such devices because it adds significant structural strength to the device so that the same can be stacked without damage and can safely undergo the rigors of shipping.
It would therefore be a significant advance in the art of storage devices, especially storage devices for storing and displaying containers of liquid or solid products if a strong storage device could be fabricated which enabled visibility of the stored containers while enabling removal of the containers through the sides of the storage device.
It would be a further advance in the art of storage devices to provide a device which can be easily stacked one upon the other during shipment and/or for displaying the contents therein for consumer purchase.
It would be a further significant advance in the art of storage devices, particularly for containers storing liquid or solid products, if the "H" type insert could be eliminated without sacrificing the structural integrity of the device.